In Flames
by kfl02EZ
Summary: Percy Jackson and his loyal friends facing a grueling and sudden zombie apocalypse.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfiction ever so don't expect something too great. Also I am very open to constructive criticism.

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story belong to me but to Rick Riordan. But the plot is one hundred percent mine.

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Chapter 1: Last Day On Earth

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My hands shake with fear as I hold a sleek black pistol under my sweating chin. I close my eyes as I get ready to pull the trigger and fade into the growing blackness. I know this is what I must do if I am to stop the sudden craving for human flesh I am starting to feel… But I can't stop thinking of everything and everyone I'll be leaving behind. I will never see the beautiful baby blue sky again or lay down on the grass and look at the stars at night with Annabeth again. Annabeth. Oh my lovely and beautiful Annabeth doesn't deserve this. I need to stop these thoughts! I know what I must do. As a final tear slides down my bloody and beat up face my finger slowly wraps around the cold pistols' trigger...

You might be wondering why I'm currently holding a pistol and getting ready to blow my own brains out. Let me start from the beginning, when the zombie apocalypse started.

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Well there's the first chapter. I'm sorry it was so incredibly short! I promise all the others will be WAY longer. Well thanks for reading!

-Kenneth F.


	2. In Flames: Chapter 2

Thanks to all who read my last chapter, I appreciate it.

That Weirdo Writer: First of all thank you for giving me my first ever review. Also I hope I can make a diverse and interesting plot as well.

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story belong to me but to the master mind that is Rick Riordan. The plot is entirely mine though.

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Chapter 2: The Beginning and The End

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So here is how it all started. I was casually sitting in detention in our schools musty library for about the billionth time in the school year, grumbling to my myself how it was all Clarrise's fault I was in there in the first place (which was only partially true). I could remember so vividly when Mrs. Dodds, my bitch math teacher, screamed, "PERCY JACKSON! That's another two weeks of after school detention for you! Now get out of my classroom you brat!" Percy Jackson, that's me, the biggest troublemaker known to Goode High except for perhaps the Stoll brothers. I have jet black hair and eyes like the ocean. I'm in pretty decent shape I'd say and I'm very tanned from being on the swim team.

Well anyways, after about another excruciating hour of attempting to read in detention with my dyslexia I said "fuck it" and decided it was time to get out of the shithole I was in known as the library. I slowly crept towards the exit as the librarian went to take a phone call in her office when I was abruptly stopped by her. Annabeth. I didn't know the blonde haired beauty well but I classified her as a bitch anyway since she was the student president. Though I didn't like her I couldn't deny her beauty, with her perfect body, princess curled blonde hair, perfect lips, and captivating stormy grey eyes… I was suddenly ripped out of my trance when she said "And what do you think you're doing?"

I guess she was a bitch AND a teachers pet. I always have detested people who can't mind their own damn business. "Well?" she said, obviously awaiting an answer. "None of your damn business you teachers pet." I said venomously. I could immediately tell by the hostility in her eyes that I had struck a nerve. I smiled internally. I realized that we were creating quite a racket and I needed to get out of the library quickly before the librarian showed up, but Annabeth seemed to have other ideas (At the time ee didn't register the fact that the librarian had exited the library in a rush) "Listen here you fucking idi-" I never got to here what she was gonna say because she was cut off by a blood curdling scream that immediately sent shivers down our spines.

After a couple of seconds of the both of us staring wide eyed at each other we tried to regroup and think of who could've possibly emitted the horrific scream. Me being the brave human being that I am(and a handsome human being but that's irrelevant) decided that we had to block all the doors. "What kinda idea is that!? What if whoever is out there needs help!" she exclaimed. I looked a her in bewilderment, "What are two 17 year old teenagers gonna do if there is a murderer out there?" I shouted. I could see the logic in my reasoning dawn on her beautiful face. "Well, maybe you do have a brain afterall Jackson." I rolled my eyes knowing I couldn't insult her intelligence due to the fact that she was probably the smartest person in the school. After a painful ten minutes of moving bookshelves and various items to block all the entrances and exits to the library we slumped down on a shelf next to each other. The silence was deafening until we heard a slamming on the door.

I started to get up to see who it may be when Annabeth pulled me down. "Wha-" I started to say when she cut me off, "What are you thinking? You said it yourself it could be an intruder! Might as well hold a sig-" It was her turn to be cut off but not by me but by the abrupt scream for help. I got up and peeked past a couple of book shelves to see a friend of mine, Pollux, (I knew him well for bringing the packs of beer to my best friend, Jason, wild parties) I motioned for Annabeth to help me clear out the bookshelves and just as we were about to start clearing out the debri in front of the door I saw a gaunt and bloody figure creep out from the darkness behind Pollux. It had white eyes, half of its cheek was dangling off, a yellow bile poured out of its mouth and it's entire body had holes and tears in it. Before I could give a cry of warning to Pollux it took a chomp out of his neck, he screamed a scream of pure terror and of helplessness. We stood there stunned in silence, with tears pouring down our faces as the rotten corpse tore into his flesh, knowing we couldn't do anything but watch.

After I regained my ability to move I puked all over the floor and sobbed. Everything blanked and at the moment I couldn't even register Annabeth's reaction. After a grueling thirty minutes of my helpless sobbing I felt a soft hand touch my arm and I realized with a start that Annabeth was here as well. She seemed to be just as truatimitized as me judging by her puffy and red rimmed eyes. The two of us took a brief minute to recollect ourselves and reassess the situation.

"What in the fuck was that?" Annabeth whispered, afraid it could hear us from outside the doors. "I have no clue." I stated. But as I began to thinking about it more and more I realized my comics had come to life, the creature that was roaming and sniffing around outside was a zombie. I worded my thoughts aloud and Annabeth looked at me like I was crazy. "I'm not joking around Jackson! I can't believe you're joking around like that kid wasn't just ripped to fucking pieces!" "First of all stopped fucking calling me Jackson, call me Percy. Second of all, that kid, his name was Pollux, and he was my friend and lastly what other creature besides a zombie looks like that and eats human flesh?!" She sighed and ran a finger through her luscious hair, " I guess you're right." "I am, which means we're living through a zombie apocalypse. We're gonna fucking die here."

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Well that's the end of the chapter two, hope you enjoyed. Please review and favorite it would mean a lot to me. Thanks for reading!

-Kenneth F.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to all who have read the last two chapters.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Rick Riordan

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Chapter 3: The Plan

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Where was I? Oh that's right, as I was saying Annabeth and I were stuck in our schools shitty funded library in the middle of a mortifying zombie apocalypse. After I had slowly found acceptance to our harsh reality, I did the heroic thing, I panicked like a little bitch. "Annabeth!" I shouted. "What are we gonna do!? There's no food or water in here! We're gonna fucking starve!" I couldn't have been more stupid. When I looked behind the sloppily barricaded door I noticed I had gotten the grotesque zombies attention. It began to pound the door and groan loudly. Annabeth gave me one of her heart warming glares (note the sarcasm people). "You idiot! Look what you've done? And we obviously can't here, especially now that you've disturbed our friend out there." Her eyes suddenly lit up like they always do when she has an idea. "I have a plan, I know how get us out of here alive."

A few minutes later Annabeth had mapped out the whole entire school. As she was explaining her intricate plan to me I couldn't help but marvel at her beauty. You would think my teenage hormones would have been put aside, seeing as I'm in the middle of a zombie apocalypse but apparently not. Getting me out of my sudden stupor, she snapped in front of my face, "Did you listen to a single word that came out of my mouth you idiot?" she asked with clear frustration evident in her melodic voice. "No." I said sheepishly. She sighed in frustration. "We're going to be using that vent to get out of here." she pointed at the vent right above us. "If we take a couple of turns while we're crawling in the vents, we should reach the baseball field and from there we can get the fuck out of this school." " Should? No way, there has to be ano-" I was cut off. Our "friend" outside looked like he had attracted some more unwanted guest to our location. In unison they all slammed into the wooden door and its hinges exploded into pieces.

The zombies stumbled in and trudged over to our location. Immediately I took action, though I was scared shitless. Annabeth was still rooted to her spot, I got the chair from where I was sitting moments ago and stood on it so I could reach the vent to tear it open. Luckily the screws were old and rusty (like everything else in that library) and I managed to pull it open. By now Annabeth seemed to remember how to function properly but the zombies were about three feet away and rapidly closing in. I squeezed in as quickly as possible and crawled as far forward as I could before I ran out of breath, and judging from the clanging behind me Annabeth managed to make it in as well. "That...was way….too...damn close." I huffed out. Annabeth said nothing and continued to breath heavily behind me. After a few minutes I looked back at her sweaty face and said, "Lets get going, we gotta get out of this hell hole and get help. I pulled out the now wrinkled map out of my pocket which was quite difficult due to the lack of space in the vent. "Lead away" Annabeth said.

As I lead Annabeth through the vents using her own map I began to feel incredibly uncomfortable and claustrophobic. Apparently Annabeth felt the same way as I heard her mumble words angrily and incoherently, though I did manage to catch a couple of insults thrown my way for my lack of speed. "Soooo" I drawled out. "Where do you think everyone else is hiding?" Annabeth sighed. "I really don't feel like making small talk while I'm right behind your ass Percy." I shut up knowing I wasn't putting her in the most comfortable situation. We continued our shitty journey and eventually found the vent that would lead us to the baseball field. Being the awesome person I am, I easily slammed open the vent (In reality I know the vent was probably just rusted like the other but Annabeth doesn't have to know that). We tumbled out of the vent, and we breathed in the fresh air. I looked around to see there were zombies in our vicinity. "Percy, catch!" Annabeth said as she tossed me a wooden bat. I took in our surroundings, there were a couple of zombies approaching us but we could easily out maneuver them and climb the fence surrounding the field. I voiced my plan aloud and Annabeth nodded in agreement.

We made our way to the fencing on our left side, I threw my bat over and began to climb for my life. When we were on the other side I sighed with relief, until I heard a ferocious growl. I looked up to see two zombie making their way towards us. They seemed to be more interested in Annabeth than me (I can't blame them), they kept stumbling over towards her until she had her back against the fence. I don't know what it was, perhaps Annabeth's face contorted in fear or maybe the fact that these abominations were the reason for most of my classmates brief lives, all I knew is that I felt a hatred so deep it was indescribable as I picked up my bat. With all the force I could muster I slammed one of the the zombies head with the wooden bat with so much force it broke in half. It's head made a SPLAT sound and I felt blood spew all over my face. I shoved the leftover jagged piece of wood in my hand into the other zombies throat, the zombie gurgled blood from it's mouth and I kicked it in the chest and sent it toppling down with his other dead friend.

I turned around to make sure Annabeth was okay. "You alright?" I said. She nodded her head quickly and was looking at me with awe. "Good, because we have to warn the rest of the ci-" I stopped when I saw Annabeth's horrified face. She appeared to be looking at something behind me. I turned around, with all the commotion I hadn't even gathered my surroundings. The city was in flames, all around us people were screaming and crying, zombies were feasting on helpless civilians while the military was putting down zombies left and right. It was no mystery that in a couple of hours the city of New York would succumb to the hordes of bloodthirsty and flesh craving zombies. The city was lost, and there was nothing we could do.

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I know I promised longer chapters but I've been lazy with school and all. Remember to review with ideas people! I want to know what I can do better and when and how you want me to upload. Do you want me to upload chapters like this every week on Thursday/Friday or every two weeks with much longer chapters? It's up to you but I can't read minds so remember to review. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading as always.

-Kenneth F.


	4. Brief Authors Note

Authors Note: Just letting you all know that I will not be posting this week but next week I will resume to my regular routine. I might even throw in an extra chapter for the inconvenience. Also I would like to thank the guest who posted a review on my last chapter. Thank you so much for reviewing and starting next week I will begin to upload every Thursday/Friday again. That's all for now, thank you for your time.

-Kenneth F.


	5. Chapter 4

Thank you to all who have favorited and reviewed my story.

Disclaimer:All characters belong to Rick Riordan

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The Hunt

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Annabeth and I remained silent as we gazed upon the chaos that was once our city. After what felt like ages I grabbed Annabeth's arm, "Come on, let's get the hell out of here." She was still in a state of shock, I tugged her arm with more force, "Come on!" Perhaps I shouldn't have been so loud, I had gotten the attention of medium sized horde. Their clouded eyes gazed upon us and they began to run towards us.

Annabeth immediately looked at our surroundings, "Over there!" She pointed at what appeared to be a nearby furniture store but we couldn't read out the name because we were already sprinting towards it. As I was running I ran into a zombie and fell flat on my back. It loomed over me and was just about to take a chomp and take a piece of my face off when a bullet pierced the side of its head. Its lifeless body fell on me. I unsteadily got back on my feet when I saw my hero, a marine holding a matte black pistol, he screamed "Get the fuck out of here while you still can!" He then turned his back to me and resumed shooting and fighting off more of the zombies.

I continued to sprint towards my destination, running as quickly as I could past the war zone and to the furniture store. At one point a bullet ripped through the front of my shoulder, I screamed out in pain but continued to run towards my destination. When I finally got to the store, I saw Annabeth trying her best to kick open the door as another horde began to approach. "Come on wise girl, get out the way, I got this." I smugly said. She jumped at the sound of my voice but moved to the side for me. She noticed my bloody shoulder and her eyes widened in shock. "Percy what hap-" I cut her off, "I'll tell you later, we got a horde moving in fast." She spotted it the zombies and nodded, with all the power I could muster I kicked the door open. We ran inside and shut the door.

With the amount of force I had used to kick the door open I had broken the lock. Annabeth had noticed this as well, "Percy barricade the door with furniture!" I looked around to see tons of couches, chairs, and tables all over the place. We got to work and started stacking up as much furniture as we could to barricade the door. That's when I heard it, at first it was faint but then it increased in volume drastically. A growl from a zombie the size of a basketball player, I have no idea as to where it came from since the back door was locked."Keep boarding that door up! I got this fucker!" I yelled at Annabeth. As if the situation couldn't get any worse I began to hear pounding on the front door, the horde had reached us.

Mr. Big Fucker zombie continued to walk towards me, I looked around for any sort of weapon to take him down. I realized I would have to take him on with my bare hands unless I could pick up and chuck couches (News flash: I can't). I was momentarily distracted by a loud bang behind me. I turned around to see the door slammed open with furniture littered all over the floor. I searched for Annabeth to see her sprawled on the ground looking slightly dizzy. We made eye contact and for once we were in agreement, we would die fighting. We would die heroes deaths. She got up and pressed her body against the door with a last effort and I turned around to face the behemoth of a zombie. "Come and get it" I gritted my teeth and raised my fist.

The back door burst open and a hooded figure holding a bow screamed in a feminine voice, "GET DOWN!" I obliged as did Annabeth. She pulled an arrow out of her quiver and not even a second later an arrow sprouted through the zombies head. I whipped my head towards the front door when I heard a crrrraaackkk. Dozens of arrows ripped through the door with bits of brain attached to them. After what felt like forever the door was pushed open and tons of girls around our age walked in with identical outfits to the girl who just saved our lives. I looked around to see our savior rip out her arrow from the zombies head and put it in her quiver. "No time for long introductions, these are my hunters and I'm Zoe Nightshade. Now let's get you the fuck out of here shall we?"

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I hope you enjoyed, a quick chapter for not uploading the last two weeks. I didn't want to make Zoe talk old school like she does in the book, so sorry if you're disappointed by that. It would just be a lot of unnecessary work. Remember to review and favorite.

-Kenneth F.


	6. Chapter 5

I'm so sorry that it took a pandemic for me to continue this story. Now that I have plenty of time on my hands I will do my best to try and add an additional chapter every three days.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rick Riordan

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Hope

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I was in awe of what I had just seen, I was alive! Zoe opened the door and made a motion with her hand and about seven more hooded figures walked in. I noticed they were all girls but said nothing. The hunters that had just crept inside seemed to be guarding a group of other kids. Their group was dressed in casual clothes and fortunately there were fellow males so I felt less alone. I yelped in surprise when I was suddenly embraced. "Perce!" Unable to recognize the voice at first I shrugged the stranger off. As soon as I got a look at who it was a grin took over my face. It was Grover, one of my best friends since middle school. I couldn't believe I hadn't recognized him. "Grover!" I said and now it was his turn to be squeezed in a hug. I winced because of my shoulder. Grover's eyes widened barely taking notice and opened his mouth and was about to speak when Zoe said, "Well done securing the survivors Phoebe." One of the hooded figures who had entered the building with Grover, who I assumed was Phoebe, nodded.

I looked around for Annabeth to see she was with some girls from our school, he knew two of them. One of them was the daughter of Tristian McLean, a big movie star, her name was Piper. He had always thought she was beautiful with her choppy brown hair, tanned skin, and amazing kaleidoscope eyes. The other girl's name was Hazel or something, she was pretty as well. She had long and curly brown hair and golden brown eyes. I made eye contact with Annabeth and she gave me a curt nod, I made a similar gesture and looked back at Zoe to see what she had to say. "For the two new survivors, we are the hunt." she gestured at the hooded figures. I had no idea who they were but they seemed much more equipped for this apocalypse then me. "I have heard rumors of an evacuation point for all survivors, the catch is it's about twenty minutes away from here on foot. If you stick with The Hunt and I then we'll do our best to transport you there safely. If you don't trust in our services then I kindly suggest you get the fuck out of here before you jeopardize our mission." Nobody moved an inch as the Hunt eyed us all down. Zoe nodded her head satisfied. "Good, then let's get going." she said. I quivered and braced myself for what was to come. At least now I had an objective, something to strive for. Perhaps life still had a point after all. I gave Grover a nervous glance and together we stepped out into the hell that was New York.

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I know this was a super short chapter but I just wanted to let you guys know this story is being continued. Though I must admit I am very rusty and need to get used to writing again. I hope I've piqued your interest again.

-Kenneth F.


	7. Chapter 6

Sorry for being a day late on uploading this chapter. I really need to work on posting on time, but in my defense I suck at math and it can be rather tedious. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I had fun writing it. I tried to have Percy narrate the story a little better than the prior chapters since all the events after the first chapter are the past and he's telling the reader what has led him to that point. This chapter is a little dark but I want to create a world of horror and sadness that Percy and his friends have to live in.

Disclaimer:I don't own any of the characters but the plot is original and mine entirely

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Doomed

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As soon as we stepped out of the building I was temporarily blinded by the bright sun. As soon as my vision came back into focus reality kicked in once again. Zombies tore into the flesh of the innocent as they screamed in agony. Cars were going absolutely insane, smashing into civilians and zombies alike in a futile attempt to escape. The military had drastically decreased in numbers at this point and were doing their best to keep the horrifying creatures at bay. But they were no match for the teeming zombie population. Giant buildings were engulfed in flames forcing many to jump to their demise. I remember this particular scene like it was yesterday, some things you can just never forget.

I looked towards Zoe who was leading the group confidently, I couldn't comprehend how she could be so brave. This was the first time I got to see the face behind the hood. She had dark black hair, dark brown eyes, copper-colored skin, and a slightly upturned nose. "Phoebe, cover the rear. The rest of you, surround the survivors." We huddled up together so that the hunters surrounded us and could protect us from any outside intrusions. Grover and I stayed behind Zoe (I knew that if anyone could get us out of our current situation, it would be Zoe) and near Annabeth and her friends. Though I would have never admitted it to her at the time, I felt an odd sense of reassurance with her. How could I not after all the traumatic events we went through together? I looked around a little more and noticed a boy named Leo huddled up with us, I didn't personally know him but he was good friends with Jason. I made a mental note to later ask if he knew if Jason was okay.

So there we were, treading the dangerous sidewalks of NY with the Hunt. We were five minutes in and a hoard hadn't even approached us, yet. Though a couple of times a few straggler zombies managed to see us. The hunters made quick work of them, whipping arrows from their quivers almost as fast as they were shooting them. Their accuracy was insane, the arrows pierced straight through the domes of the zombies. A single zombie got a little too close for comfort but Phoebe whipped out her dagger and hacked its head off. Blood spewed on to a couple of us but that was the least of our concerns.

Another couple of minutes of walking and I was starting to think we would all make it in one piece. Oh how wrong I was. I turned to my left and saw Grover quaking uncontrollably, he looked like he was ready to have an anxiety attack. "Hey Grover, look at me." He turned shakily. "I promise we're going to be okay, the Hunt has everything in control. Besides even if they weren't here, you got me at the very least. If any one of these things wants to get to you then they're going to have to get through me first." I said as I gave him a reassuring smile and a pat on the shoulder. He visibly relaxed, "Thanks Percy, you're a good friend." I smiled at him, and turned to see Annabeth looking at me. She leaned in and quietly said "Well that was real sweet of you." I blushed at the close contact, "I'm just being a good friend." She smirked in response, seeing that I had turned red when she came close. Suddenly her eyes widened at something behind me. A sense of dread washed over me and I knew, shit was about to hit the fan.

I turned around and immediately noticed the Dodge Charger heading straight for us. It ripped right through the back half of our group, narrowly missing us. It continued until it slammed into a nearby wall. Petrified, I now took in the gruesome scene before me. Bodies were littered all over the asphalt, dead. There was a long smear of blood that I traced back to the car against the wall. I realized that a hunter was pinned against the wall and the hood of the car, it was Phoebe. Blood gurgled in her mouth and spewed onto the ground. It wouldn't be long before she choked to death in it. The driver of the car had been killed upon impact, his brains were spread all over the windshield. The remaining survivors did one of the two things, fled the scene (which didn't end well as far as he could see) or pulled out their blades and started hacking at the zombies that somehow seemed to sense the opportunity for flesh. "PERCY!" Grover yelled. I turned to see him wielding two blades in his hands, he tossed me one. "EVERYONE, FOLLOW ME!" shouted Zoe at the top of her lungs in order to get the remainder of the group's attention.

After Zoe got our attention, everything was a whirlwind. I remember her leading us into a little corner store and demanding a couple of hunters to secure the area. I took the opportunity to look at who was left, and was mortified to see about only a third of us remained. I was so pleased to see Annabeth and Grover that I pulled them both in for a hug. By the time I pulled away from the two, the scouts reported to Zoe that the building was now clear. She nodded stiffly and her tough facade slowly crumbled until she was on her knees, sobbing. Her loud cries for her fallen comrades could be heard throughout the building that dreadful day.

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A very rushed chapter but it's 2 AM and I felt bad for not uploading sooner. Review if you think I should continue this story. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

-Kenneth F


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rick Riordan but the plot is mine

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Together

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It had been awhile since Zoe had stopped sobbing, she was now curled into a ball looking forward with a face void of expression. I suddenly winced at the aching in my shoulder, I had almost forgotten about the bullet that had pierced through my shoulder. As soon as my adrenaline had stopped, so had my weird immunity to the pain of the bullet. I looked around the building, it wasn't the worst place we could've ended up in. It had plenty of food and drinks for our small group of about fifteen. But that wasn't what I was searching for, after a couple more minutes of rummaging I found what I was looking for, rubbing alcohol. I took off my shirt and applied it to the wound. "Aw shit" I yelped as the wound sizzled. I knew that pouring rubbing alcohol on the wound wouldn't be the most effective method and could actually harm tissue but I didn't have many options. "What? Can't handle a little cut Jackson?" I heard Annabeth say from behind me. I scowled. Ready to retaliate with a witty comeback I turned around. Her grey eyes widened and her cheeks reddened, I was slightly confused until I realized I was still shirtless. "Put your shirt back on." she mumbled. I grinned, "What? Am I distracting you?" I said as I gestured to my torso. "You wish." she grumbled. I put my slightly tattered shirt back on.

"So what do we do now?" I asked Annabeth. She was about to answer me until I abruptly stopped her. She sent a slightly annoyed expression towards me but I had just seen Grover talking to the Leo kid. He was short, had short curly brown hair, a mischievous look in his brown eyes, and looked a bit on the hispanic side (Not that I have a problem with that, just an observation). They seemed to be in deep discussion and stopped when they noticed me. Leo jumped, frightened at my sudden appearance. "¡Oh, mierda!" Recognition appeared on his face, " You're a good friend of Jasons aren't you? Percy is it?" I nodded. "I'm Leo." he said with a grin. "Though I'm sure you've heard of me before. I'm quite a big deal with the ladies." He wiggled his eyebrows at me and I couldn't help but laugh, I decided I liked this Leo guy.

Grover who had been standing silently during my interaction with Leo spoke up, "I saw you talking to Ms. Goody too shoes over there Percy, what's up with that?" he said jokingly. "Woah woah, it's not like that! She's just a...uhh..friend?" Leo raised his hands with a grin, "Hey, we're not judging. She is pretty hot." I rolled my eyes. It was good to converse with the two, but we all knew we were just trying to get our mind off of everything that was going on. "Speak of the devil." said Leo. Annabeth gave herself a brief introduction then got down to business, "So what are we gonna do? Our leader is useless and her hunters are following her lead. Somebody needs to direct this group in the right direction." I realized that if nobody was willing to step up to the plate then I had to be the one.

"Hey everyone, listen up!" I yelled loudly but not too loudly so as to not draw in the zeds. "We can't just sit here and mourn for the rest of our lives. Zoe is clearly incapable of being a voice of reason in these times. So we have to make a plan without her." A couple of hunters stepped forward, blades drawn, "How dare you insinuate that she is unfit to lead us?"one said as she pressed her blade against my abdomen. Grover tensed as did Leo. Annabeth simply looked at me, waiting for my next move (At least someone believed in me.) Quick as lightning I slammed my hand down on her hand that wielded the blade, the knife clattered to the ground. I pushed her and kicked her directly in the chest, she flew back and slammed into some shelves. They came tumbling down on her and she looked dazed. Every other hunter in the room pulled out their blades and stepped towards me but before they could turn me into a Percy-kabob Zoe shouted, "Wait!" They obediently stopped, "Sheath your blades. At the very least we shall listen to his plan but if you EVER lay a hand on a hunter of mine again I will personally slit your throat." The rest of the hunters glared at me but let me speak. "It is far too late to get to the evac point now, we all heard the choppers ride off a couple of hours ago. But what we can do is wait here until there are less human dangers outside." Zoe grimaced knowing that I was speaking of the car that wiped most of our group out. "We have enough food and water here for all us for at least a month if we ration, which'll give us enough time to get a hold ourselves and figure out how we continue." Either nobody could find a flaw in my plan or nobody had an alternative (Perhaps they were stunned at how much of a genius I am). I smiled once everyone had agreed, we were one step close to functioning like a proper team.

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A bit of a boring chapter but the characters need to develop some sort of teamwork and trust before this story really starts to kick off. Thanks for the encouraging messages some of you have sent me, really appreciate the support.

-Kenneth F.


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